Police and other public safety personnel are often issued a badge as a means of authenticating their authority. Badges are often mounted to holders made of leather or other durable materials, which are in turn worn or carried by the police and public safety personnel. Badge holders are well known and widely used in the art and available in a variety of styles to suite the officer's particular needs. Badge holders are most frequently used by non-uniformed police and off duty police. Plain clothed police will frequently use a badge holder that clips to their belt, but allows the badge to be visible when worn. Because, police are often required to carry their badge and credential with them at all times, wallet style badge holders are used by off duty police officers. Wallet style badge holders allow their badge and credentials to be carried in a pocket. Typically, a wallet style badge holder has folding bodies that allow the officer to selectively display or conceal the badge within the body of the wallet.
While, conventional badge holders allow the police and public safety personnel to conveniently wear and carry their badges, they do not position the badge on the officer's body at the most vital location during the high stress situation of a use of force encounter. When a weapon is presented, the natural human tendency under stress is to visually fixate on the weapon in the hands of the perpetrator. Because of this tendency to visually fixate on the weapon, the badge carried in a badge holder worn on a belt or pinned to the chest may not be perceived or even seen by others responding. With their badge clipped to a belt or pocket, a plain clothed or off duty officer actively engaged in a use of force situation may not be identified as a fellow officer by other officers responding to the situation. The attention of any responding officers will immediately fixate on the weapon in the hands of the as yet unidentified threat. Since visual attention gravitates naturally to the hands under high stress circumstances, it is highly desirable to have a badge holder that can be worn on the hand, wrist or forearm to visually display the badge while still having full use of both hands.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved badge holder that can be securely worn on the hand displaying the badge, while the wearer maintains full use of both hands. Each embodiment of the badge holder of this invention includes a strap or elastic member mounted to the back of the badge holder. The strap or elastic member allows the badge holder to slip over the wearer's hand so that the badge holder is positioned on the back of the hand to display the badge. In certain embodiments of this invention, the elastic member can be added as an attachment to conventional badge holders. In other embodiments, the elastic members are integrated directly to the badge holder configuration.
The above described features and advantages, as well as others, will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.